The 1990s were a crazy time. Boy bands were a thing; the internet was just getting started, and people were doing ungodly things to their hair. Of course, hairstyles come and go. Some stay past their welcome, and others die quicker than you can say “mullet.”
From crimping to spiky hair, there were so many bad 90’s hairstyles it’s hard to include them all. Let’s go back in time, shall we? Here are 25 Worst 90’s Hairstyles We Can’t Believe Were Popular.
Front flipped hair

"The Rachel" Haircut

“The Rachel” haircut from the hit television show Friends spawned a thousand look-alikes in the early ’90s. From the looks of it, it was originally conceived from a Billy Ray Cyrus haircut. Though word on the street is Jennifer Aniston wasn’t a huge fan of it, to begin with.
Sarah Jessica Parker Perm

Poofy ponytail

Gelled curls

Two words that’ll haunt your nightmares and make you look over your shoulder: gelled curls. This was the look 90’s guys wanted to be Justin Timberlake. Or, maybe, look like they always just got out of the shower.
Whatever N'Sync was Doing

Zig-Zag Part

A variation of The Rachel haircut, the zig-zag part ruthlessly taunted people with OCD. It was also something of a rebellious statement. Or, maybe they weren’t sure how to make a proper part in the first place? We’re going with the latter.
Hair streaks

High-Top Fades

Bowl Cut

Everyone saw this coming. The bowl cut. A 90’s trend that plagued the heads of boys everywhere. Hairstylists must have been out of their minds to allow this nightmare to continue. Sure, it’s neat and tidy. It takes care of the mullet problem. But making someone’s head look like a mushroom isn’t the best alternative.
Parted Bowl Cut

Somewhere down the road, the bowl cut evolved into the parted bowl cut. Ancient legends tell of a boy that discovered a comb in the ruins of his bathroom. With his new found power, he split his bowl cut right down the middle, and behold, the parted bowl cut was born. This thing spread like wildfire, showing up on every 90’s sitcom in the entire TGIF lineup. We’re glad millennials got it out of their system and moved on.
Flat Twists

Flat twists are the sweatpants of hairstyles. It may be comfortable to get the hair out of your face but it’s likely to make you look like Medusa reborn.
Crimped hair

Frosted Tips

Butterfly clips

Mel Gibson's Mane

The Chewbacca

Scary Spice Hair

Hanson Hair

Jheri Curl

Spiky Hair

Vanilla Ice Hair

Mullet

Rat Tails

Curly Mullet

Photos: Feature Image: man: shutterstock; arrow: pixabay (public domain); text added, 25. Pcwallart.com (Fair Use: Illustrative purposes only), 24. wikipedia via NBC (Fair Use: Illustrative purposes only; necessary to illustrate topic) , 23. short-hairstyles-design.blogspot.com (Fair Use: Illustrative purposes only) , 22. Ztams (Fair Use: Illustrative Purposes only) , 21. ModernHairstyles.net (Fair Use: No Free Images Available) , 20. N’Sync (Fair Use: Illustrative Purposes only) , 19. Christina Aguilera (Fair Use: Illustrative Purposes Only) , 18. Christina Aguilera (Fair Use: Illustrative purposes only) , 17. Kid N Play (Fair Use: Illustrative Purposes only) , 16. Jemaleddin Cole via flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, 15. W1RE12XU, Undercut, CC BY-SA 3.0 , 14. Kids Choice Awards (Fair Use: Illustrative Purposes Only) , 13. Bored Bug (Fair use: Illustrative Purposes Only) , 12. © Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com, Lance Bass 2014, CC BY-SA 3.0, 11. Giphy (Fair Use: Illustrative Purposes Only) , 10. Unrealitymag.com (Fair Use: Illustrative purposes only) , 9. Smosh.com (Fair Use: Illustrative purposes only , 8. Scary Spice (Fair Use: Illustrative Purposes only) , 7. Metro (Fair Use: Illustrative purposes only) , 6. foundphotoslj, Jheri Curl Smile (395044434), CC BY 2.0 , 5. Neeta Lind, Spiky hair 01, CC BY 2.0 , 4. thegloss (Fair Use: Illustrative purposes only) , 3. Toddintheshadows via twitter , 2. Wikipedia Commons.com (Public Domain) , 1. Smosh (Fair Use: Illustrative Purposes only)